The present invention generally relates to an improved auger planter and, more particularly, to a single flighted auger planter. The invention is particularly suitable for use in planting flower bulbs and plant seedlings, although it is also useful for virtually any type of application for boring small, shallow holes in the earth.
In any number of gardening applications, there is a need for a device for forming small shallow holes in the ground. For instance, a landscaper or home gardener often forms small, shallow holes in the earth for bulb and seedling planting. Depending upon the ground condition, the number of holes to be dug, and the device used to form such holes, the job can be laborous and time consuming.
Hand operated cylindrical soil cutters have been employed in the past to remove plugs of earth to form small, shallow holes for bulbs and the like. In addition to requiring exhausting manual labor in the use of such cylindrical cutters, one disadvantage in such cutters is that the plug of earth which is removed must subsequently be broken apart to refill the hole after placement of the bulb.
Scoop shaped garden trowels have also been utilized in the past for setting bulbs and the like. Although such trowels provide a means for removing earth in a looser fashion than the cylindrical plug removers, they also require extensive manual labor. Furthermore, it is often desirable to provide a series of uniform holes in the soil, but this is time consuming and/or difficult to achieve with hand held garden trowels.
Earth boring augers have also been utilized in the past to more rapidly bore uniform holes in the earth. Such augers have typically been double flighted, so that the auger does not vibrate or move in an orbital motion as it enters the ground. Such double flighted earth boring augers suffer several disadvantages. One disadvantage is that when holes are formed for the purpose of setting bulbs and the like, it is advantageous to mound the removed soil close to the hole so it will be convenient to refill the hole after the planting step. Double flighted augers, however, tend to throw the dirt too far from the hole to conveniently replace the earth after planting the bulb. Another disadvantage is that double flighted augers tend to plug faster than single flighted augers due to the smaller distance between the flights. Furthermore, double flighted augers tend to be more complex and expensive to produce than single flighted augers.
Single flighted earth boring augers also have been employed in the past for planting. However, they also have suffered certain disadvantages. The prior single flighted augers tend to be rotationally imbalanced compared to the double flighted augers and therefore vibrate or move in an orbital motion. Prior attempts to cure such rotational imbalance have included the approach disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,356,168. In that patent a single flighted auger is disclosed in which the flighting is secured to the shaft by spot welding spaced along and balanced around the shaft in an attempt to minimize rotational imbalance. This approach results in more complex manufacturing procedures and increases the expense of such augers. Even if the potential rotational imbalance problem is overcome, prior single flighted augers have also posed a safety problem to the user due to sharp edged terminal ends of the flighting which can catch the clothing of the user or cut the user's body.
An auger planter incorporating the principles of the present invention overcomes most if not all of the aforementioned disadvantages. An auger planter incorporating the principles of the present invention is easy and safe to use, requires minimal manual labor, is relatively easy and inexpensive to manufacture, removes the soil from the hole in a loose fashion, and mounds the loose soil in close proximity to the hole.
The present invention achieves all of these advantages utilizing an improved single flighted auger having a central shaft which may be powered by a hand drill. The central shaft supports a single flighting having its leading tip, and preferably also its terminal tip, removed or cut back to allow the auger to enter the soil with a minimum imbalance and undesirable vibration and eccentric orbital motion. The truncated or cut back ends of the flighting are preferably blunt thereby minimizing the danger of cutting the body of a person using the auger or of having clothing caught by the flighting ends.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent upon considering the following detailed description.